New York town restricts clapping during council meetings

That's essentially the new rule for city council meetings in Peekskill, N.Y., a small town 50 miles (80km) north of New York City where raucous city meetings have irked elected officials, FOXNews.com reported Wednesday.

Members of the city council unanimously adopted new rules for the public two weeks ago in response to what they viewed as repeated outbursts from two local civil rights groups.

"It's a resolution to provide decorum and structure during meetings so people can speak about what they want to speak about without being -- people felt they were being intimidated when the audience was applauding or catcalling," said Deputy Mayor Donald Bennett, who laughed when he heard the phrase "no-clapping rule."

He said critics have seized on one graph in the resolution and taken it out of context.

"Let's clarify that. First and foremost, we're not telling them not to clap," he said. The graph says "don't clap while someone is talking."

But the groups, the Peekskill Committee for Justice and the Cortlandt Peekskill Anti-Racism Collaborative, say city officials are trying to silence them.

"It's an assault on democracy and free speech," said Darrell Davis, founder of the Peekskill Committee for Justice. He said his group has been going to the city council with specific complaints for the past two years.

The resolution states that members of the public are prohibited from "shouting, unruly behavior, distracting side conversations, or speaking out."

They are also prohibited from "clapping while another person is addressing the Common Council."

Bennett says the rules became necessary after the council had to cut short three different meetings this year that had gotten out of control.

"Two or three people start arguing and we can't get quiet in the chamber," he said. But he added that no one has been thrown out or arrested.

Drew Claxton, a member of the city council, said in an email that the rules were enacted "so that our residents feel that they can come to the council meetings and speak to their elected officials without being intimidated, heckled or called racial slurs."